Reviews

Heatseeker

First of all: the graphics. Heatseeker looks like it should have come out in 2001. The aircraft models lack significant detail, the land and water textures are straight out of a first-gen PS2 game, and the framerate, while decent, is certainly nothing to write home about. The fact that Heatseeker also appeared on the PSP is enough to make one wonder if it wasn't developed for Sony's handheld and ported over to the PS2.

As bad as the graphics are, the sound is even worse. The voice acting ranges from merely okay to annoyingly amateurish, like a high school theatrical production of "Iron Eagle." The constant whine of your aircraft's engine will have you scrambling for the SFX volume slider before the first mission is over. Sometimes the sound effects keep going when they're not supposed to. For instance, after failing a mission where the objective was to keep C-130 civilian transports from being destroyed before they could take off, radio chatter from the supposedly destroyed transports continued playing over the "Mission Failed" screen.

And then there's a lot of stuff that just feels half-finished, from the mission replay feature that doesn't allow you to control the playback, to the awkward wingman command system, to the repetitive structure of the missions and poor enemy AI. In a genre where there's already so much quality competition, there's no excuse for skimping on any aspect of the development.

Plus, there's just not much game here. The main campaign mode is made up of 18 missions. The only other play mode is a mission mode, where you can go back and play any mission you've completed in campaign mode with any aircraft and weapons you've unlocked. There's no training mode, and the newbie-friendly first few missions of the campaign mode don't teach you everything you need to know about air combat (there's no mention of using the rudder to control your yaw, for instance). There's no multiplayer play, there's no online play, and there's not even an option to view the aircraft and weapons you've unlocked.

When it comes right down to it, Heatseeker just isn't a good value for the money, compared to what else is out there for the PS2. At $30, Heatseeker is more expensive than a used copy of Heroes of the Pacific or Lethal Skies II or a brand new Greatest Hits version of Ace Combat 5, all of which are clearly superior air combat games. With those kinds of quality alternatives out there, there's no reason to even let Heatseeker out of the hangar.